Objectives

With the rise of healthier beverage options and category sales expected to increase 74% by 2023[1], bubly, the all-natural, fruit-flavored sparkling water, leveraged its growing popularity to raise awareness of a cause affecting everyone in some way: breast cancer.

Having driven 57% of category growth in the first half of 2019[2], bubly had a powerful platform to impact its Millennial target audience by infusing playful and refreshing experiences into the everyday. With a steadfast belief that a little fun goes a long way in changing a long-term outlook, bubly partnered with Susan G. Komen® - the leading organization in the fight against breast cancer – to use their cans for good.

Staying true to the brand’s “playful instigator” role, bubly and Komen created a lighthearted, yet compelling program surrounding National Breast Cancer Awareness Month to urge consumers to check their cans (pun playfully intended!).

 Facilitating playful connections and making an important topic relatable, bubly tapped into every touchpoint, including its most valuable – its colorful cans featuring smiles and witty sayings on their tabs – to launch the #CheckYourCans campaign with four objectives:

1. Educate consumers about breast self-awareness and early detection
2. Launch a limited-edition bubly x Susan G. Komen® can to stand out within a cluttered category
3. Use humor and playfulness to deliver engaging experiences at scale
4. Encourage donations to the cause

Determined to put its’ “breast foot forward”, bubly identified hyper-relevant platforms, personalities and purpose-driven activations to bring #CheckYourCans to the world at large.

[1] https://reports.mintel.com/display/918504/

[2] https://qz.com/1411994/pepsi-expects-its-lacroix-competitor-to-make-100-million-this-year/

Strategy and Execution

Throughout October of 2019, bubly tapped into a slew of brand touchpoints spanning packaging, retail activations, media and experiential to bring #CheckYourCans to life and playfully draw attention to an important cause.

During National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, bubly released limited-edition co-branded pink grapefruitbubly x Susan G. Komen® cans that drove to an augmented reality experience centered around breast health awareness. Through a call-to-action on the cans, consumers were encouraged to visit bubly’s Facebook page (or ar.bubly.com) and use their smartphones to scan the cans and unlock this content. Within the augmented reality experience, users learned how to manage their breast health through early detection, locate and engage with their local Komen affiliate screening centers, and make donations.

To drive awareness around the LTO cans and AR experience, bubly utilized three key tactics to amplify the partnership on a national scale and educate consumers through playful experiences.

Part 1: Ellen DeGeneres Show Partnership and Supporting Media

Building on the brand’s longstanding relationship with The Ellen DeGeneres Show, bubly partnered with the beloved personality and breast cancer advocate to introduce #CheckYourCans to her rabid audience. As the exclusive sponsor of the show’s annual “Breast Cancer Awareness Month” programming, bubly’s spirited personality came to life through the lens of Ellen’s iconic humor and ability to inspire emotional connections. During six in-show integrations across October, bubly set the stage for themed games featuring celebrity guests and real survivors playing for the cause. Each week, guests such as The Jonas Brothers, Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron, Margot Robbie and The Bachelorette’s Hannah Brown, competed to unlock donations to Susan G. Komen® on behalf of the brand.

In addition to promotion across Ellen’s digital and social platforms, bubly inspired Millennial and Gen Z consumers to “use their cans for good” by rolling out themed gifs via the brand’s GIPHY page to encourage users to make breast cancer awareness part of their social lexicon.

Part 2: Retail Integration

As bubly engaged fans across every screen, the brand aligned with several retail partners, namely Kroger, Walmart and Amazon, to not only showcase the limited-edition product via custom in-store displays, but also promote awareness of the #CheckYourCans program across their digital and social platforms.

Part 3: Komen Signature Events

As communities rallied together to support breast cancer awareness, bubly activated on-site at Susan G. Komen® signature events, including Seattle’s 3-Day, the New York Race for the Cure® and several other local market walks. Through grapefruitbubly product sampling, co-branded giveaways and smile-themed experiential build outs, bubly brought smiles to the faces of breast cancer survivors and supporters as they joined forces in the fight to find a cure.

Results

Through a multi-pronged approach tied to National Breast Cancer Awareness month, bubly used their cans for good to make an important topic feel accessible and fun. Leveraging national and local touchpoints throughout October, the brand stayed true to its commitment to infusing playfulness into the everyday lives of its core Millennial audience, while exceeding each campaign objective:

1. By highlighting breast self-awareness and early detection, education was at the core of #CheckYourCans:
   • AR experience provided breast health information, warning signs and resources to more than 20,000 people

2. As evidenced by the bubly x SGK program at retail, bubly infused meaning and social good into an increasingly cluttered category:
   • Doubled sales growth across Walmart, Kroger and Amazon
   • Co-branded cans were named to Ellen’s October Top 15 Favorites List on Walmart.com, making it the first-ever beverage brand to be featured

3. As the playful foil to the everyday, bubly continued uplifting a sensitive topic by giving consumers much-needed laughs across screens, newsfeeds and day-to-day routines:
   • 74MM total impressions across The Ellen DeGeneres Show digital/social channels and 37.9MM total viewers on linear
   • Integrations exceeded prior campaign benchmarks by 56% with 16.5MM digital video views
   • Resulted in 2.0MM+ engagements (+98% were positive reactions across Ellen’s Facebook and YouTube)

4. Most importantly, bubly’s efforts translated into action and donations for Susan G. Komen®:

Resulted in a $250,000 donation to support SGK’s mission to save lives by investing in breakthrough research to prevent and cure breast cancer.

Media